MOSCOW, Russia — Boris Spassky, the Soviet chess grandmaster famously defeated in the 1972 Cold War-era World Chess Championship, has died at the age of 88, the Russian Chess Federation said.
While the exact cause of death was not disclosed, the Federation described Spassky’s passing as a “great loss for the country.”
Spassky is best known for his iconic 1972 match against American Bobby Fischer, a showdown that symbolized the East-West rivalry of the Cold War. The match, which Fischer won, ended the Soviet Union’s dominance of world chess, breaking a streak of Soviet champions dating back to 1948.
Spassky, who became world champion in 1969, held the title until the Fischer match, which has since been immortalized in books, documentaries, and the 2020 Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, inspired by Walter Tevis’ novel.
Though the loss was a significant blow to Moscow, Spassky later described the pressure of the title as a “colossal responsibility” and admitted that its end brought him relief.
Born in 1937 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Spassky showed early promise, becoming the youngest grandmaster of his time at 18 and junior world champion before rising to global prominence.
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